Signs
of the Times

Signs of the Times -
What Are the Signs of Christ's Imminent Return?

More signs of Christ's return exist today than at any time in history.
In Matthew 16 v.3 Jesus rebuked the people of His day for failing to recognize
the "signs of the times" that heralded His first coming. How much more
reason do we have today to recognize the signs of His second coming?

We
are surrounded by so many obvious signs that one would have to be blind
not to see them, yet some fail to recognize them even when they are called
to their attention. Especially with all of the aids we have in this modern
age such as books, Internet research & study, radio & television,
study guides, tapes, VCR's and the ability to communicate with others via
phone, church, meetings, ect. Much easier than in the days of Jesus by
far.

Two signs predicted by the Hebrew prophet Daniel for "the time of the
end" should be obvious to all. The increase in travel and the increase
in knowledge. The speed of travel is dependent on the increase in knowledge.
More than in any age before this one, men are "running to and fro on the
earth", just as the Bible predicted for "the time of the end"

"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And
there will be famines, pestilence, and earthquakes in divers places. All
these are the beginning of sorrows." (Mat. 24 v.7-8)

There are 2 Jewish idioms in those passages. (1) nation against nation
- Our Lord was speaking of a war started by 2 nations, each combatant soon
joined by the surrounding kingdoms until all the nations involved are included.
In Tim LaHaye's book Are we living in the end times on page 39, he explains
this as what had occurred in 1914 - 1918 when the Archduke of Austria,
prince Francis Ferdinand, was shot by a Serbian zealot in the very area
of the world where in these days UN peacekeepers must be stationed to keep
the Serbs & Croats from killing each other.

One month later Austria
declared war on Serbia, followed shortly by the other kingdoms of the world,
until all but seven nations officially joined the conflict. (those 7 countries
sent mercenaries) It at first was called "the Great War" that involved
a total of approx. 53 million men, 13 million of whom were killed (not
including civilians). and then renamed WW1.

The 2nd part of Mat 24 v.8 talked of famines, pestilence, and earthquakes
in divers places. A look at history reveals that the flu epidemic of 1918
spread throughout Europe, Canada, and the US taking more lives than were
lost on the battlefields. Much of this vulnerability to disease was caused
by malnutrition and famine as a result of the war.

So three parts of the first sign Jesus gave His disciples, were fulfilled.
The 4th part, Earthquakes, are harder to pin down but definitely have been
increasing in number.

According to Tim LaHaye everyone realizes that "the Great War" did not
usher in the time of the end, for only 22 years later the world was plunged
into WW2. Jesus did not say the first sign would usher in the end, but said, "all these are the beginning of sorrows" (Mat 24 v.8) That term is used
to describe a woman in labor and the pain Israel will endure at the end
of the ages. Tim LaHaye gives us the analogy that those signs are the beginning
of the birth pangs and they will become more intense and regular.

The Top 7 Sins of the Tribulation - Rev. 9 v.20 lists the top
7 sins of the Tribulation:

Rebellion against God ("They did not repent")

Worship of demons

Idolatry

Murders

Sorceries (drugs)

Sexual immorality

Thefts

It is interesting to compare this list with one given by the apostle Paul
in Col. 3, v.5-6, which mentions "sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil
desires and greed, which is idolatry". Paul then reminds his readers, "Because
of these, the wrath of God is coming." Is it ever! Even though these 7
sins of the Tribulation will become rampant after the church has been raptured,
already they are among the most dominant sins of our society.

Rebellion Against God - Rebellion is a way of life today, both
nationally and individually. Government, media, and education policy is
relentlessly removing every vestige of our nation's heritage that relates
to God, prayer, the Bible, and Christian values. For over fifty years faith
in God and obedience to Him have been treated as vices rather than virtues
and as national liabilities rather than assets.

Worship of Demons - Twenty years ago Satan worship was scarcely
heard of; today it is rampant. Satan worshipers are frequently on the evening
news because of some satanic ritual that killed or maimed someone. Witchcraft,
too, is becoming rampant, even respectable.

USA pictured 700 witches dressed
in black and wielding brooms, sweeping down the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
Add to that astrology, psychic readings, and other occult practices that
seek information from satanic sources. Although mankind has a keen interest
In the future, he refuses to go to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit,
but instead often resorts to necromancy, tarot card readings, voodoo, and
other demonic practices. And it will only get worst during the Tribulation!

Necromancy is the act of conjuring the dead for
divination. It dates back to Persia, Greece and Rome, and in the Middle Ages was
widely practiced by magicians, sorcerers, and witches. It was condemned by the
Catholic Church as "the agency of evil spirits," and in Elizabethan England was
outlawed by the Witchcraft Act of 1604.

Necromancy is not to be confused with conjuring devils or
demons for help. Necromancy is the seeking of the spirits of the dead. The
spirits are sought because they, being without physical bodies, are no longer
limited by the earthly plane. Therefore, it is thought these spirits have access
to information of the past and future which is not available to the living.

It has been used to help find sunken or buried treasure,
and whether or not a person was murdered or died from other causes. The practice
of necromancy has been compared by some to modern mediumistic or practiced
spiritualism. Many consider it a dangerous and repugnant practice. Dangerous
because it is alleged that when some spirits take control of the medium they are
reluctant to release their control for some time.

Necromancy is not practiced in Neo-pagan Witchcraft, but
it is practiced in Voodoo. There are two noted kinds of necromancy: the raising
of the corpse itself, and the most common kind, the conjuring or summoning of
the spirit of the corpse.

Idolatry - Unredeemed man always resists worshiping God by faith
but demands "aid to worship", things made with human hands, from pictures
to images to relics and icons. These days paganism is widespread not only
in backward countries but also in America. Have you noticed the increased
worship of the mother goddess Gaia? ( Pronounced Guy-Ya)

A replica of the Parthenon located in a park in Nashville,
TN features a huge statue to Gaia. To the Christ rejecting mind, the worship of
any female goddess is attractive, for she is nonjudgmental, gentle, and ever
merciful. She would never banish people to hell for their sins, nor in most
cases even punish them. She only blesses them, ever a preference for the God
rejecting sinner.

It is quite possible that we are on the verge of seeing a merging of
the feminist movement, liberal Christianity (with its penchant for feminizing
the Scriptures), and mother goddess worship. At the same time, many in
the Catholic church are trying to persuade the Pope to establish Mary worship
as official church doctrine by naming Mary "co-redemptrix with Jesus" and
the fourth member of the godhead.

In all likelihood, as soon as all born
again Christians are Raptured, there will be no restraining influence to
keep such perverse doctrine from being made official. Perhaps that is why
Babylon, the religious beast of Rev. 17 verse 3 seen with a woman on its back,
controls the Antichrist's kingdom during the first half of the tribulation. Woman Sitting on a Scarlet Colored Beast

Murders - One of the major social problems of our day is the
rise in the murder rate. Already it has reached frightening proportions.
The younger generation committing murders whose ages are 10-11 years old,
is increasing each year. The current violent crime rate, almost 25,000
murders each year is making this once Christian nation the murder capital
of the world.

The rise in drive-by shootings, rapes, muggings, and murders
are horrible enough. But the greatest evidence that Tribulation like living
has already gripped our society is the government's attitude toward murdering
the most innocent and weakest among us, the unborn. More than 43 million
murders of unborn babies have taken place since Roe vs. Wade in 1973.

Drugs - From the Greek word translated "sorceries" in the KJV,
we get the word pharmacy. Unfettered drug use will be common during the
Tribulation. Drugs and alcohol are a way of life for many non believers.

Sexual Immorality - From the white house (this was written when
Clinton held office) to the movie theater, it is accepted policy today
to disregard sexual purity before marriage and sexual fidelity afterward.
Many educators have all but abandoned teaching virtue; instead they have
made a virtue out of homosexuality and lesbianism, which for centuries
were called perversions and in the Bible are called "an abomination" and "unnatural".

The sexual revolution of the 60's, based on the perverted sex studies
of Alfred Kinsey in the 50's, followed by the explicit sex education of
the 70's & 80's, and strengthened by the Supreme Court's 1972 decision
that transformed pornography from an illegal business into a legally acceptable,
10 billion dollar a year trade in the 90's, has turned the Western world
into a sex obsessed cesspool of immorality, just like that of the Tribulation.
It is hard to believe that sexual immorality can get any worse than it
already is, but it will!

In 2007, It's hard not to
pick up a paper, watch a newscast or read the news on the internet where a
teacher is not accused of having sex with a minor student. Recently a 40 year
old teacher gave up his teaching practice to marry his 16 year old student.

Thefts - Gated communities and security systems are becoming
a way of life today. Why? Because of the rise in theft. Theft is with us
today and will continue right into the Tribulation, although it will probably
become much worst under Antichrist, who is opposed to everything Jesus
Christ stands for. Many of the terrorists of today are using Credit card
theft as a way to raise money for their causes.

A Second Opinion - In the world of medicine it is a wise and
prudent practice to seek a second opinion when a physician's original diagnosis
is both grave and troubling. That's not a bad thing to do here either.
We recommend consulting with the apostle Paul, who had something to say
about how society and culture would deteriorate in "the last days":

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men
will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers,
without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong,
haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of
godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of
this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible
women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2 Tim. 3 v.1-7)

Note the eighteen characteristics of a society in free fall as outlined
by Paul. What is often lost on students of history is that such declining
values have been a consistent part of Western culture since the First World
War.

Selfish - Lovers of themselves - The massive breakdown of marriage
today has no greater single cause than selfishness. This is the natural
result of two generations of teaching children and youth to "do your own
thing" and get all the "gusto" out of life you can. Thanks to selfishness,
the divorce rate in our country is above 51%.

Covetousness - Lovers of Money - We have a population that is
never satisfied but is on a continual quest for more. More money, more
things and more gratification.

Boasters - Proud - These are two traits God hates (Proverbs 16
v.18), yet they are both on prominent display today.

Blasphemers - The use of the Lord's name in vain is commonplace
today. Thanks to Hollywood and others in the entertainment industry, it
has become universal in movies and even on TV. The fact that God not only
disapproves of this kind of speech but also warns He "will not hold him
guiltless who takes His name in vain" (Exodus 20 v.7) does not seem to
deter millions from the sin of blasphemy. Imagine what will happen when
the one group almost never uses the name of God and His Son in vain is
suddenly snatched out of this world, leaving all the blasphemers behind!

Disobedient to Parents - Parents who are disobedient to God will
raise children disobedient to their mothers and fathers. The rise in Juvenile
crime has reached epidemic proportions, worrying law enforcement officials
as they contemplate the next generation. One police officer told Tim LaHaye
that child and youth murder crime (ages 8-15) is escalating faster than
any other crime category.

Rebellion - The spirit of rebellion is invading many Christian
homes. A national youth speaker prior to 2002 said, "70% of today's youth raised in Christian
homes do not follow their parent's faith when they leave home." If he is
right, that is up 25% in just 20 years. Now in 2007 that number is around 80%. The music and lyrics popular with
today's youth are built on rebellion to parents, police, and all authority
figures.

Today's social workers and sociologists are trying to keep parents
from disciplining their children! As a pastor states Tim LaHaye, I found
there is a direct correlation between children who were not allowed to
sass and disobey their parents in their very young years and those who
followed their parents' faith in adulthood.

Unthankful - Rebellious people are unthankful people; that is
why they are so miserable. The Bible teaches us to "be thankful," which produces
a thankful attitude and thus a happy life, regardless of circumstance. That is
not the mental attitude encouraged today. Instead, the disadvantaged are urged
to complain about their terrible lot in life, even though it is measurably
better than where they or their ancestors came from.

Have you ever noticed that there are no lines to get out
of America, Canada, and other Western countries? There are however, long lines
to get in. Regardless of their circumstances, people should be encouraged to
thank God for their blessings rather than continually curse the darkness.

Unholy - Everywhere you turn today you see the hand of satanically
inspired disrespect for God, and a worship of other gods. The worship of
nature is an unholy form of pantheism famous for its intolerance of other
religions. The worship of the occult does not foster holy living as taught
in Scripture, but just the opposite. This may be one cause of its modern
appeal: It panders to the immorality that has always been a part of pagan
religions, many of which are invading the West.

Without Natural Affection - One of the most basic Judeo Christian
principles has been the natural and beautiful attraction between the sexes.
The love of a mother and father for their children, the love of the extended
family for each other, and the love of one's country were similarly considered "natural." Today we are living in a depraved Romans chapter one world that
many fear God has given or will give up to "vile passions" that reverse
the normal order of things. (Roman 1 v.26-27).

Today homosexuality and lesbianism
are accepted by many in officialdom as "normal". Promiscuity before and
after marriages and divorces are said to be unrelated to integrity. Mothers
known to abandon or drown their own children. Children have been known
to kill their parents and then demand leniency from society because they
are orphans. One unwed mother killed her own infant after giving birth
in the bathroom. She stuffed the child in the trash can, then returned
to the dance floor at her senior prom to dance the night away. We could
call this decade the death of natural affection.

Truce Breakers and False Accusers - Whether it is Israel and the
Oslo accords with the PLO, or Russia, China, or N. Vietnam breaking treaties
with America and the West, most people have lost confidence in nations
and their leaders. A majority of citizens don't expect leaders to keep
their officially written word, much less their spoken word.

It isn't just
nations that break treaties and agreements at will; it is also private
citizens. For example, our courts are filled with challenges to prenuptial
agreements after the marriages blow up. We are a litigious society that
boasts one lawyer for every 300 people. Lawyers are getting rich on the
backs of broken agreements and false accusations.

Incontinent - The Greek word means "without self control". Although
our country was built on self-discipline, industry, and personal integrity,
today we are a nation of overweight, alcoholic drug abusers and sexual
perverts who can not control our desires and passions, and who don't even
try.

Fierce - Society has turned hostile, so much so you are not sure
you can avoid being insulted, berated, or assaulted by strangers who feel
insulted by something you have done or said. "Road rage" is one of today's
worst problems on the nation's highways, and women are as bad as men. In
marriage, anger and hostility often result in spousal or child abuse. Police
say that domestic conflicts are among their most dangerous call. We are
rapidly becoming a nation of "fierce" people.

Despisers - Esau is infamous for despising his birthright and
selling it to his brother, Jacob, for a mess of porridge. Today we have
a whole subculture of intellectual elitists who have rejected God and His
wisdom. They not only embrace the "wisdom of this age" or the "wisdom of
man," but they also demand that the rest of the nation do the same, and
thereby despise their spiritual heritage.

Traitors - Who can deny that treachery is increasing in the Western
world? People in lofty and influential positions have sold their country's
secrets for money, influence, and more recently, ideology. When anyone
in a position of influence puts his own ideology above loyalty to his country
and betrays the nation's defense secrets, he or she is a traitor, another
sign the end is quickly approaching.

In addition, I personally would like to point out the oil embargo of
1973 when the Saudi's thought they could get us to stop helping Israel by
stopping the oil shipments. I distinctly remember our president and many of
those in congress swear to the public that we would start immediately by
developing alternate methods of fuel to end our dependence on foreign oil.

I consider those involved to be traitors to our country.
They soon sold us out because of money, power and greed. To date, we are more
dependant than ever. The lobbyists continue to do their thing, the elected still
accept their bribes, and oil continues to flow into this country. Saudi Arabia,
Iran, Iraq, Russia and others. These people are not our friends they want to see
both the US and Israel eliminated!

Not to mention those in high places including the FBI that has sold
secrets to our enemies for at least 15 years. Those in our government who
sold or gave nuclear technology to China & India. China in turn gives
Pakistan nuclear capabilities. Clinton involved in giving our technology
to China and in turn gets campaign contributions. Why isn't he in jail!

What about those presidents who appoint Supreme Court Judges who has an
agenda such as Roe v. Wade, the removing prayer from schools, the removal
of the 10 commandants from all Federal buildings. How do you think these
things happen? Whose agenda is being done here besides Satan's, who is
running our country, who cares ... we should.

Heady
and Reckless - We have become a nation of reckless individuals
who give little thought to making the decisions that will mold the rest
of our lives. Besides the huge national debt which is above 6 trillion
dollars. Additional borrowing has exceeded that amount, including 2 trillion
dollars of credit card charges alone, all at exorbitant interest rates.
That puts the totals at least 14 trillion dollars of personal and national
debt, plus corporate debt - and yet billions are invested on the stock
market daily.

Most economists believe there will be a day of reckoning
and that a crash leading to a depression is inevitable. The same reckless
condition is seen in the sexually permissive attitudes of both the heterosexual
and homosexual communities. With sexually transmitted diseases, including
the awful plague of AIDS, resulting in incredibly high death rates and
painful illnesses, one can only marvel at the many reckless individuals
who think, it won't happen to me. Unfortunately, for millions it does.

High Minded - The Greek word translated "high minded" may also
be rendered "haughty" ,"puffed up" or "arrogant." It is amazing that the
purveyors of secular humanism, with their disgraceful track record of societal
failure, can still be so autocratic as to assume the right to make decisions
for others.

We make no apology that we who hold to biblical doctrine and
values are dogmatic but not in our own wisdom or authority. We are convinced
that obeying the principles of God is good for individuals, society, and
the nations of the world. Wherever God's principals have been followed,
they have elevated individuals and society. Wherever they are ignored,
they have created cultural and moral depravity.

Yet high minded people, usually those with advanced degrees, dogmatically
oppose moral teaching and prefer the immoral practices of humanism. Witness
the recent pronouncements of Jane Fonda. She has announced a bold campaign
to promote condom use while ridiculing abstinence programs in public education.
Asserting that 80% of our youth are promiscuous," she is on a crusade to
see that all young people have access to condoms, even though condoms have
not proven to be safe either to avoid pregnancy or sexually transmitted
diseases.

Lovers of Pleasure - Who can deny that this world has gone crazy
over pleasure? From topless dancers to Hollywood entertainment to sporting
events, millions spend money they cannot afford on events that consume
hours of their time and energy. The whole world is becoming addicted to
entertainment - witness the crowds that attend rock and music concerts
or major sporting events. Some fans go straight from one sport to another.

No Power with God - The Bible instructs leaders that
"righteousness
exalts a nation," yet all the nations of the world officially condone immoral
practices suicidal to their country's best interest. Our own nation has
murdered so many unborn children that we have not only incurred the wrath
of God but also destroyed our nation's social security system.

Baby boomers are concerned there will not be enough
taxpayers and wage earners in the nation when they start filing for social
security benefits. It is time in these evil days for Christian leaders to head
their members into the voting booth and work to put a halt to the killing of
innocent blood!

Paul's Warning to the Last Day's
Church - It would be wrong to
not high light Paul's great warning to the church. Millions of our neighbors,
friends, and relatives are committed to the immoral lifestyles just outlined.
While we should witness to them and share the gospel with them, Paul says
on a personal level, "from such turn away".

Christians should be careful
not to be drawn into the last days' lifestyles. You don't have to participate
in such lifestyles to win those who are open to the gospel. Eventually,
when their world begins to collapse around them, you will be available
to offer hope and help through Christ. Like the people of Noah's day, most
will not heed the warning of imminent judgment. But some who recognize
the "perilous times" as a sign of the end will take advantage of the "ark
of safety" and call on the name of the Lord!

It is now considered a "hate crime" to warn or speak out against homosexuality.
And discrimination against a homosexual in job selection or dismissal is
a violation of the law. If you refuse to rent your home to a homosexual
couple, you are a lawbreaker. The secular world has turned the sexual laws
of God upside down. A few years ago the American Psychological Association
considered homosexuality a mental deficiency; now the APA has endorsed
it and proposed that their members no longer urge homosexuals to change
their sexual lifestyle.

We have come to the place where officialdom demands that
any sexual urge be permitted, regardless of its effects on marriage, the home,
children, the human body, and the increased misery and suicide rate it causes.
To them, anything that contributes to reducing the population is good. The moral
conditions spoken of in the book of Revelation are already here. We are already
living in days like those of Noah and Lot, days our Lord predicted would return
just before His return to this earth.

Morally speaking, nothing needs to happen before the
Rapture, and any objective person assessing the rapidly declining moral
standards of our day must admit that officialdom and millions of people
worldwide are already living in Sodom and Gomorrah like conditions.

The Signs of the Scoffers - One final trait typical of the moral
climate during the end times ought to be considered: the emergence of scoffers.
Modern skepticism has its roots in the empiricism of Descartes and has
taken over the graduate schools of the world, especially through the uniformitarian
theory that under girds all of education today. Don't let the word uniformitarian
throw you. It simply describes the theory that current processes of life
are sufficient to account for the origin and development of all the earth's
physical and biological phenomena.

This, of course, eliminates divine revelation
of catastrophic events designed by God to judge His creatures. The theory
of uniformitarianism, popularized in the mid 1800's by the English geologist
Sir Charles Lyell, became a prominent foundation for Darwinism and evolution,
Marxism and socialism, Freudianism and Liberalism. It fostered many of
the evils that beset our society today and is propagated by the most intellectually
trained members of our society.

It is fascinating to note that almost 2000 years ago the apostle Peter,
an untrained Galilean fisherman, predicted the exact thinking patterns
that would characterize these scoffers. He prophesied that ... "Scoffers will
come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this
they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world
that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and
the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved
for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." (2 Peter
3 v.3-7)

Peter said these scoffers would deny the coming of the Lord because
"since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of creation" The questions Peter said these scoffers would ask
are based on their uniformitarian ideas. If you eliminate the biblical
worldwide flood, as uniformitarians do, you remove a vital proof for the
second coming of Christ.

But if in fact there was a flood, then God really
does judge sinful men, and there is good reason to believe He will come
again to judge the world. If man accepts the reality of the Flood, he is
pressed to accept the likelihood of Christ's second coming. To demonstrate
this point, Peter reached back into history and with superb logic developed
a line of reasoning too deep for some of the best educated minds of our
day. He highlighted five major historical events:

Creation: God was the originator of all things, including man.

The Fall of Man: Sometime shortly after creation man chose to disobey God
and fell from innocence into sin. Death, disease, and human misery resulted.

The Flood: Man's iniquity reached such depths that God destroyed all but
eight people in the world's greatest cataclysm, the Flood.

The Life of Christ: Jesus Christ came to die as a divine sacrifice for
man's sin, to lift the curse on man and to prepare man for a future state
of bliss where he could enjoy the unlimited blessings originally intended
for him by his Creator.

The Second Coming of Christ; The next major event in God's plan for man.

According to Peter's argument, the scoffers are thoroughly mistaken that
things have continued in a state of uniformity. To the contrary, man has
seen two major divisions of time, with a third to come. The first, terminated
by the Flood, Peter calls "the world that then existed." The present world
he calls "the heavens and the earth which are now preserved." The third,
after the second coming of Christ, will provide a new heaven and earth,
which are kept in place by the word (or power) of God.

Why Are They So Blind - Peter provides us with 2 reasons why
scoffers are so blind. The first is found in 2 Peter 3 v5, "For this they
willfully forget." The unregenerate minds of unbelievers resist the idea
of the intervention of God in human affairs. Their problem is spiritual,
a matter of the will, and the unbeliever remains deliberately ignorant
of the truth. Peter mentions a second reason for the scoffer's intellectual
blindness in verse 3: They walk "according to their own lusts."

The lovers
of pleasure who fostered the "free love" movement, continue to advocate
the use of marijuana, and lead rebellions against society, are bosom friends
of uniformitarian philosophy! If we would learn from history instead of
ignoring it, we would remember that the early humanists lived in exactly
that way.

There can be little doubt that this is a day of scoffers. Never have
they grown so bold and blatant. They are not content to live after their
own lusts, willfully ignorant of the claims of God in His Word; they also
work tirelessly to pull the next generation into their Sodom and Gomorrah
lifestyle. They are guilty of what Jesus predicted: "Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites (scoffers)! For you travel land and sea to win
one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of
hell as yourselves" (Mat. 23 v.15)

Our Moral Holocaust - It was professor Alan Bloom who pointed
out in his 1990 best seller "The Closing of the American Mind" that the
relativistic attitude of our best educated youth today is: "Morals are
no big deal!" Such popular but erroneous thinking has resulted in the near
death of virtue, in millions of fatherless children, and in millions of
disease plagued youth, much like the moral conditions described by the
New Testament for the coming Tribulation. In fact, the present moral holocaust,
based as it is on an evolutionary philosophy that rejects God, creation,
and moral absolutes, exactly fulfills this sign of end time moral conditions.

While every part of the Olivet discourse provides a remarkable preview
of the future, the first few verses of Jesus' sermon give us a unique historical
context that enables us to sense when the great events it describes are
about to unfold: Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple,
and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.
Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say
to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be
thrown down".

They asked Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things
be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"
Jesus answered, "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come
in My name, saying, "I am the Christ" and will deceive many. And you will
hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Daniel and the Time of the End - We are indebted to Daniel, the
great Hebrew prophet, who asked the same questions we would ask about spiritual
conditions during the end times. In his very important 12th chapter he
asked, "How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?" and "What
shall be the end of these things?" He was told that "the words are closed
up and sealed till the time of the end" (Dan. 12 v.9) Then he was told
something often overlooked by prophecy students about end time events; "Many
shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly."

Euthanasia, partial birth abortions, cloning, cult suicides, UFO sightings,
Satanic ritual murders, famines, volcanoes, I could go on and on. To most
people, all of this may just sound like a collection of unrelated news.
But to the student of prophecy, it all ties together. It's all part of
a pattern. It's exactly the kind of developments we would expect to see
in the generation that witnessed the rebirth of the nation of Israel and
the recapturing of Jerusalem by the Jewish people. They are the signs of
the times.

Jesus himself when asked for signs of His second coming
predicted there would be global catastrophes like birth pains in a woman about
to give birth shortly before the time for His return. In other words, all the
predicted signs would increase in frequency and intensity within the same time
frame, shortly before His coming. He concluded His prophecy by applying it with
this parable.

This is a summary of it: Just as we can tell that the
general time of summer is near when we see the first leaves on the fig tree, so
we will be able to tell the general time of His return when we see all the
prophecies of His return coming together and increasing in frequency and
intensity. He said that the general time would be this: the generation that sees
the prophecies come together in concert will live to see their final
fulfillment. (Mat. 24 v.32-34)

Here is a description of those birth pangs Jesus predicted would occur
shortly before his return: "Then He continued by saying, Nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes
shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights
and great signs shall there be from heaven. And there shall be signs in
the sun and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress
of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming
on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." (Luke 21 v.10-11,
25-26)